Standing female worshiper. Sumerian, Early Dynastic IIIa (ca. 2600–2500 B.C.). Limestone, inlaid with shell and lapis lazuli, H. 9 15/16 x W. 3 3/8 x D. 2 1/16 in. (25.2 x 8.5 x 5.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1962 (62.70.2)
This worn, fragile-looking statue of a Sumerian woman from 2600 B.C. has always moved me. Excavated at the site of Nippur, in Iraq, the statue was one among many sculptures discovered in a temple dedicated to Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, abundance, and war. The statues all represented mortal beings—most likely the elite citizens of Nippur—who commissioned images of themselves to stand in perpetual prayer before the deity.
The temple remained in use for an astounding three thousand years, until sometime in the Parthian period (247 B.C.–A.D. 224) undergoing continual restoration and renewal. With each new iteration, the statuary from the previous temple would often be buried in the walls or cultic furniture of the new temple, indicating that once consecrated, these images remained sacred even when no longer performing their original function.
This figure’s longevity and persistence—the sheer fact of her survival—speak to me every time I come face to face with her. I am utterly awe-struck that she was preserved for the three thousand years of the temple’s existence and then lasted for another two thousand years in the abandoned mound of the site, until archaeologists unearthed her in the 1950 and ’60s. Today, this worn statue of a Sumerian woman is anything but fragile; her strength and resilience speak to me and to all of our visitors at The Met.
— Kim Benzel
